The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (154 page)

93
CV to H. N. McTyeire, June 15, 1874, WHV to Bishop H. N. McTyeire, February 24, 1877, H. N. McTyeire, “Last Words Before Leaving for the Ecumenical Conference in London,” June 28, 1881, Correspondence of Cornelius and William H. Vanderbilt, NYPL; CV to H. N. McTyeire, March 24, 1874, fold. 23, box 2, John James Tigert IV Papers, Special Collections, Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University;
CT
, September 3, 1875;
NYH
, October 5, 1875. See also CV to H. N. McTyeire, July 13, 1874, CV to H. N. McTyeire, December 2, 1875, F. A. P. Barnard to CV June 29, 1876, NYPL; Charles F. Deems to CV October 2, 1875, Mrs. F. A. Vanderbilt Papers, Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library;
Nashville American
, June 17, 1876, in
NYT
, June 20, 1876.

94
NYW
, December 13, 1877;
NYS
, March 6, 1878.

95
CT
, May 29, 30, 1874;
RRG
, March 21, April 11, June 13, 1874. For a review of the impact of the depression over the course of 1874, see
RRG
, December 26, 1874. For explicit statements by both CV and WHV that CV set the nonaggression policy, see
CT
, May 10, 1876,
NYT
, June 16, 1876.

96
RGD, NYC 374:1.

97
RRG
, July 6, December 26, 1874.

98
CT
, August 3, 1874;
RRG
, August 8, 15, September 12, 1872.

99
CT
, October 16, 22, 1874;
RRG
, October 31, November 21, 1874.

100
HC
, November 13, 1874;
CT
, November 6, 1874;
RRG
, September 24, November 14, 21, 1874;
NYT
, November 13, 18, 1874;
EP in NYT
, November 18, 1874;
NYH
, February 18, March 27, 1875.

101
NYT
, June 24, 1875. During the year, CV traveled to Cleveland for the LS&MS annual meeting and took part in discussions with Scott and Garrett; see Directors' Minutes, May 5, 1875, LS&MS, reel 65, box 243, NYCRR;
CT
, May 5, 1875:
NYT
, May 6, 1875;
RRG
, May 8, 1875;
NYH
, June 9, 1875;
CT
, June 9, 14, 1875;
RRG
, June 19, 26, July 3, 1875. WHV, however, clearly took operational leadership; see, for example,
NYH
, December 26, 1875.

102
I am grateful to Prof. Richard R. John of the University of Illinois at Chicago and David Hochfelder, Edison Papers, Rutgers University, for providing summaries of these two letters (John W. Garrett to CV, November 17, 1875, and William Orton to CV November 19, 1875). They appear in fold. 1, box 200B, subser. 1, ser. 4, Western Union Telegraph Company Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Orton quote from William Orton to Edwin D. Morgan, May 12, 1876, fold. 9, box 10, Edwin D. Morgan Papers, NYSL.

103
Board of Directors' Minutes, September 9, 1874, NYC&HR, vol. 2, box 93, Directors' Minutes, October 1, 1874, LS&MS, reel 65, box 243, NYCRR; NYSAD 38, 103rd sess., 1880, 15, 25;
RRG
, December 15, 22, 29, 1876;
NYT
, December 17, 1876; Edward Hungerford,
Men and Iron: The History of the New York Central
(New York: Thomas Y Crowell, 1938), 249–54.

104
Directors' Minutes, June 7, 1871, June 3, 1874, December 18, 1875, Canada Southern Railway Company, reel 68, box 242, NYCRR;
Railway World
, January 1, February 5, 1876;
NYW
, November 15, 1877;
NYTr
, February 13, 1879.

105
Directors' Minutes, July 1, 1875, LS&MS, reel 65, box 243, NYCRR; J. W. Brooks to JFJ, April 13, 1875, Telegram, C. J. Brydges to JFJ, April 21, 1875, Joseph Hick-son to JFJ, October 13, 1875, JFJP;
CT
, September 18, 1875;
NYT
, October 15, 1875, August 29, 1879;
NYW
, November 15, 1877; Klein, 196–203.

106
NYTr
, October 16, 1878;
NYH
, October 16, 1878; see also
NYTr
, April 10, 1878.

107
On Morrissey, see
CT
, July 25, 1870. On lawsuits against them, see
NYH
, February 22, 1871. On their court battle with their mother, see
NYTr
, December 15, 1871, in
CT
, December 18, 1871;
NYT
, May 17, 1871;
NYH
, May 16, 17, 1871. For the quote regarding pantarchy and their status as brokers, see
NYT
, March 31, 1872; also RGD, NYC 349:1062. On their eviction, see
NYH
, June 8, 1871. CVs testimony quoted in
NYT
, January 5, 1875. See also Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, “Victoria Woodhull, Anthony Comstock, and Conflict over Sex in the United States in the 1870s,”
JAH
87, no. 2 (September 2000): 403–34, and “A Victoria Woodhull for the 1990s,”
Reviews in American History
27, no. 1 (1999): 87–97; Mary Gabriel,
Notorious Victoria: The Life of Victoria Woodhull, Uncensored
(Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1998), and Louis Beachy Underhill,
The Woman Who Ran for President: The Many Lives of Victoria Woodhull
(Bridgehampton, N.Y: Bridge Works Publishing, 1995). Barbara Goldsmith, in
Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), makes several claims without citing sources—or citing them incorrectly. Two of the most important claims, and perhaps most likely, are that Woodhull and Claflin's mother tried to blackmail CV in early 1871, prompting him to cut the sisters off (272–3); and that, upon CVs death, WHV came to see them, and they assured him that they had seen no signs of CVs being of unsound mind (430–1). Claflin appears to have attempted to extort money out of WHV during the trial over CVs will, colluding with the challenging attorney, Scott Lord, and threatening a lawsuit on the incredible claim that CV stole money from her; see Tennie C. Claflin to Father, c. 1877 (which includes a copy of a letter from Claflin to WHV), fold. 3, box 4, Tennessee Claflin Cook Family Correspondence, Victoria Woodhull-Martin Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Morris Library, Southern Illinois University, Carbon-dale, Ill.

108
Independent
, March 16, 1876;
RRG
, March 17, 1876;
NYH
, March 24, 1876;
BG
, April 24, 1876;
CT
, March 17, 1876.

109
BG
, April 24, 1876.

110
NYH
, April 11, 14, 1876.

111
NYW
November 15, 1877;
NYS
, November 17, 1877.

112
NYT
, August 7, 1876; NYW, November 15, 1877;
AtlC
, April 30, 1876;
NYH
, March 9, 1878.

113
NYT
, December 8, 1877.

114
CT
, May 10, 1876.

115
NYH
, May 11, 1876.

116
NYT
, December 15, 1877.

117
Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Diary 2, 1876–1878, Misc. Microfilms, reel 72, NYH's (cited hereafter as “Diary 2”). Curiously, she left two parallel diaries with overlapping information. Frank may have made a second record at the time, or she may have copied her original at a later date, leaving out potentially embarrassing revelations, as the primary difference is that only one diary has any references to magnetic healers, who came in to rub CV periodically.

118
Entries for June 4, 19, 1876, Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Diary, 1876–1878, Misc. Microfilms, reel 72, NYH's (cited hereafter as “Diary 1”).

119
Entries for August [?]11, September 3, 1876, Diary 2; entry for August 4, 1876, Diary 1; see also
NYT
, March 7, 1878.

120
Entries for September 12, 27, 28, October 9, 1876, Diary 2; see multiple telegrams in 1876 to McTyeire, fold. 24, box 2, John James Tigert IV Papers, Special Collections, Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University.

121
Entry for August 3, 1876, Diary 1; entries for August 8[?], September 27, 1876, Diary 2.

122
Entries for June 24, August 8, October 4, 1876, Diary 1; entry for October 5, 1876, Diary 2. Corneil mistakenly blamed Frank and Martha Crawford for turning him away;
NYS
, December 22, 1877.

123
NYH
, December 17, 1876;
NYTr
, February 13, 1879.

124
NYS
, November 17, 1877; Telegrams, WHV to Bishop H. N. McTyeire, January 4, 1876, 9:12 a.m., 11:41 a.m., 9:55 p.m., fold. 24, box 2, John James Tigert IV Papers, Special Collections, Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University.

Epilogue

1
For examples of especially questionable witnesses, see
NYTr
, October 2, 1878;
NYH
, March 5, 1879.

2
A history of the contest appears in
NYH
, March 5, 1879; see also
New York Sunday News
, December 23, 1877, Vanderbilt Will Trial Case Clippings, NYPL;
NYTr
, March 21, 1878;
NYT
, April 8, 1880. It was widely believed that WHV eventually gave Corneil a total of $1 million; RGD, NYC 392:2938.

3
Board of Directors' Minutes, January 5, 1877, NYC&HR, vol. 2, box 93, NYCRR.

4
NYH
, January 8, 1877;
HW
, January 27, 1877. CV's remains would later be removed to the present family tomb, in the same cemetery, constructed by WHV.